What's Most Important
by eolhcsullivan452
Summary: "He would also fight for the ribbon he wore so they'd never have to give someone else the reminder of all the hard fought and painful battles." Cloud's thoughts while fighting Sephiroth in Advent Children.


Yeah, I do NOT own anything Square-Enix related sadly:( Cry with me, Cloud and Tifa fans, because if I did they'd so be together by now. JK. On with my story!!

What's Most Important

"Oh, where did you find this strength?"

"I'm not about to tell you!"

As much as he _really_ hated to admit it, his enemy was right. He did have a newfound strength. All Cloud could think about since the One-Winged-Angel had been resurrected was Aerith. And how he needed to win this fight. So many people he'd loved had died an early, unfair death, and a lot of those deaths were tied to Sephiroth. Although he could never really let go of the lost souls, or forget about all that pain… Sephiroth's death had relieved him some. Knowing that the person responsible for so much of his torment could never hurt him or the people he loved again. Especially the people he loved again. But now it seemed that as soon as he'd been able to breathe again the Apocalypse happened, for the very reason for his nightmares, asleep and awake, had been brought back to life. After so many had been sacrificed to stop him the first time. It was almost a mockery of their deaths.

As the infantryman lost focus, he felt a sharp pain in his arm as Sephiroth's sword pierced it, a punishment. Now was not the time for his thoughts

"Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your SOLDIER honor." It took all of Cloud's mental strength at the moment to remember _his _mentor and best friend's words. Zack. Someone else who'd been on his mind a lot lately. As much as Cloud despised Sephiroth, it seemed he could never really _hate_ him. It had been Shinra that began all of the nonsense that was now his life. Zack had died due to Shinra; the company was another thing responsible for his suffering. He still wondered if Sephiroth had never learned about his origins if things would have gone differently. But he could _not_ afford to feel sorry for this man now. Instead he focused on Zack again, his words giving him more strength to keep fighting.

"Tifa!" the thought ripped through his mind, cutting through all the rest of his thoughts. She was another reason he fought, and in all actuality in a way she was the reason he'd started. He'd loved the girl so much; he'd just wanted to impress her. So he had tried to join SOLDIER. He often wondered if that was a mistake, but you can't undo time, and the sooner that was realized the better. Instead he had to embrace what had happened. He had wanted to impress her, now all he wanted was to protect her. Protect her physically and emotionally. Although he didn't think he'd done a good job with the emotional part lately. She was probably _more_ stressed because of him. And the look in Denzel and Marlene's eyes when they saw him showed he was hurting them too.

Denzel and Marlene, although he was never sure how to act around them, didn't seem to care, and were content as long as he was around. Cloud never thought it possible to be loved as much, as those two kids loved and depended on him. Tifa wasn't the only person he wanted to protect. Sad to say, Cloud had grown up too fast, due to unfortunate circumstances. And if he could protect his children from that, he would. So he fought for them too. For the little boy that reminded him so much of himself. And the smart little girl he'd been blessed enough to have come into his life.

Maybe, though, he would also fight for himself, for the ribbon identical to Tifa's that he wore--identical to the rest of his party's. He would fight for it so they would never have to give someone else the reminder of all the hard fought and painful battles. And of course he would fight for the rest of his friends too. Like Yuffie, similar to him in that she'd had to grow up far too soon, and as cliché as it sounded, he would fight for the world. It would be oblivious to think he and his friends were the only ones who had suffered. Everyone had, even Shinra employees. He after all was one of them for a time. And Sephiroth had really suffered since the day he was born. Another reason he couldn't _hate_ him. He was a victim, be it believable or not, and really wasn't everyone in the world? But not everyone can do anything to prevent more suffering. Since he could, he would.

He was getting tired. It seemed that he'd lost Sephiroth for a second, which was good because he needed a breather. Seeing as how his mind and body were racing, it was really actually amazing Cloud could pay attention to the fight at all due to his fleeting thoughts. Apparently oxygen did _not _like him today. He didn't really get his breath before Sephiroth appeared to start the sword clanging up again. He'd lost focus, much like Zack the puppy used to. He soon found a strong pain in the shoulder, due to the blade going through it.

"Tell me what you cherish most. Give me the pleasure of taking it away." It was then that Cloud realized something… throughout this whole second adventure he'd been blaming himself for everything, especially the deaths of Aerith and Zack. But Cloud didn't kill Aerith, Sephiroth did! As many times as he'd battled with the thought in his mind there really was _nothing _he could have done. The same with Zack; the Shinra army had killed him. He couldn't have saved him with his Mako Poisoning at the time. And he would be damned before he let Tifa, or Marlene, or Denzel, or really anyone suffer a similar fate. With even more newfound strength, he pulled the sword out and stood.

"I pity you. You just don't get it at all. There's not a thing I don't cherish!" He figured the SOLDIER and Cetra must have been watching over him, because somehow he managed to defeat the manifestation of darkness a second time. He slightly smiled at the thought.

"Stay where you belong…in my memories."

"I will never be a memory."

Cloud had no doubt that Sephiroth would indeed try to come back, but now he knew that when you have people that love you there's nothing you couldn't accomplish. But really he'd always known. There were tons of things in life you couldn't do anything about, and bad things do happen, but there's no point in dreading over them. Revenge was pointless; one who would aspire after war really should be in judgment of their own heart. But one thing you could always do was look at the past and future good things that did and you know will happen. And he would always cherish both.

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**Author's Note: **For some reason in Advent Children it always bothered me that at the end Cloud just sort of randomly seems un-depressed and what not. And the order of which he sees who's most important to him. I am a die-hard CloTi fan. LOL. This is my reasoning behind both. Don't really know what I think of it at the moment. I've been wanting to write this out for a while now. It didn't go exactly how I planned, but I still like it. Anyway, tell me what you guys think. And major thanks to my beta reader Qwi-Xux, you really are the best. Thank you all for reading. May the light guide you. ;)


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